School Board Talks About East Kemper

There was a large turnout of community residents Wednesday night for a meeting with the Kemper County School Board.

Members of the East Kemper Elementary Improvement Committee on Consolidationseeks solutions to the district's funding problems, outside of closing the school.

This is the first community meeting that the school board has held since it made public that it's considering closing the elementary school in Scooba.

School board officials say that they hoped to address some of the concerns and questions of the community, while community members say they hope to provide alternatives.

"We have proposed across-the-board salary cuts, merging classrooms, utilizing one building at East Kemper instead of the two buildings that we use now," said Wylenia Cherry, chair of the committee. "There are many classrooms that are empty on this side. Use alternative ways of merging and consolidating positions if possible."

"We don't have a time table on when the decision will be made, but we are also anticipating on when we will get official funding from the legislature," said Jackie Pollock, Kemper County school superintendent. "So until such time, a date has not been set as as to when a decision will be made by the school board. "

Community members say they believe that East Kemper Elementary is the livelihood of the community. There is only one school on the east side, and some say that closing would do more harm to the students children affected, than it would do good for the district.

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